(3:30 PM, Friday, Solis-Cohen Auditorium)

E. Loren Buhle, Jr., Ph.D.

University of Pennsylvania

"Use of the Internet for Medical Information" (OncoLink)



Medical and medically related information on the Internet enables rapid, timely and cost effective dissemination of medical information to interested parties throughout the world. This talk is based on my experiences with OncoLink, an award winning cancer information resource. Since its creation in March of 1994, OncoLink has touched the lives of millions of people throughout the world. This article will discuss the motivation, uses and future of healthcare resources like OncoLink.

The people surfing the Internet for medical information appear to fall into two categories: (1) those health responsible individuals intent on maintaining or improving their own health and the health of their families and (2) individuals confronting acute or chronic illness. Many of people with acute, life-threatening illness have just experienced the shock of a diagnosis, such as cancer, and have an intense desire to learn the latest information about their disease. They often wish to make contact with similar users drawn together by their illness. Patients with chronic health problems, such as diabetics, often seek a sense of community with fellow patients to share new findings, methods of coping and experience a sense of togetherness.

The Internet provides as powerful set of tools at the disposal of the individual seeking information. Tools such as World-Wide-Web (WWW) browsers are appearing on commercial internet providers, allowing the casual user to browse medical information throughout the world. A user may begin with an introductory document and find a word, concept, reference -- indeed, any point that requires further expansion -- appear underlined as a hypertext key. A simple click of the mouse on this hypertext key fetches more information, be it sound, video, pictures or more text from somewhere on the Internet. Like picking up a ringing telephone and speaking to the party on the other end, the user is insulated from the 'hows' and 'whys' of the information gathering process. By the same token, a simple button press on a WWW menu may unleash powerful search engines to scour multiple sources simultaneously around the world. The result of this search is the equivalent of opening several books to the appropriate page from libraries around the world.

Medical resources are just beginning to appear on the Internet. I believe these resources will play a revolutionary role in the dissemination of medical and medically related information on the Internet. OncoLink was a beginning and we are ready to proceed to the next step.
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